Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Trials are too important to be left up to juries.", 18 Nov 2004
From its stunning opening scenes, in which a family celebrates the birthday of their five-year-old son, immediately followed by the workplace shooting of the father and ten co-workers, director Gary Fleder manipulates the viewer's perceptions and keeps the suspense high. When attorney Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman) represents the wife of the victim in a suit against the gun manufacturer two years later, he comes up against Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman), a jury consultant hired by Vicksburg Firearms Company to give them a sympathetic jury. One member of the jury pool, Nicholas Easter (John Cusack) may hold the key to the outcome, but whether he is acting honorably or is himself a tool of special interests is not clear at the outset.Based on John Grisham's novel of the same name, the screenplay by Brian Koppelman, David Levein, Rick Cleveland, and Matthew Chapman focuses on the issue of jury consultants, including their secret rooms to process photographs and information about jury members, detectives and hired thugs who gather incriminating personal data for them ("Everyone has a secret they don't want you to find"), surreptitious break-ins, and blackmail used against jurors. Hackman is unscrupulous as the pawn of the gun manufacturer, Hoffman is earnest but far less forceful as plaintiff's attorney, and Cusack is a mystery man whose goal on the jury is not quite clear until late in the film. A supporting cast including Rachel Weisz as Cusack's girl friend/co-conspirator Marlee is effective in maintaining the suspense and keeping the motivation of Easter and herself a mystery. Anyone who has been on a jury will find the film lacking realism regarding jury procedure and regulations--these jurors are far more casual about this murder case than is plausible, and the public's access to them and to the trial attorneys is unrealistic. The fact that the viewer still maintains high interest in the film despite these problems, however, attests to the strength of the acting and the effectiveness of the writing in getting the viewer to "suspend disbelief." The many scenes filmed in half-light by cinematographer Robert Elswit help increase the tension and promote suspense. Somewhat cynical in its depiction of the jury system and the ability of jury consultants to manipulate outcomes, the film features crosses and doublecrosses, evil men working to subvert justice (on commission), and blatant attempts to buy the jury. Sensational, exciting, and filled with action scenes, this is a film with little subtlety but good entertainment value. Mary Whipple
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
First Class movie!, 13 Mar 2004
Having read all of John Grisham's novels, I have been disappointed by almost all of the movies that have been made from his books. Runaway Jury is my personal favourite Grisham novel, and when I awaited the movie I was very skeptical indeed. Even more so when I heard that the movie would not base it's script on tobacco as in the book, but on guns instead.However, I was left very impressed by the all-star cast that is assembled in this film. John Cusack fits the role of Juror Nicholas Easter perfectly, as does the outstanding Hackman as jury selection expert Rankin Fitch. Rachel Weisz does ok as Marlee, and Dustin Hoffman is a little weak as plaintiff lawyer Wendell Rohr. But the excellent directing and plush sets make this a nice bit of movie-making. Granted, it lacks the depth of the book, but we expect that when moving between mediums. The exchange of guns for tobacco even works, and takes us away from memories of the awful movie 'The Insider'. All in all, this is an enjoyable, and an all-around well polished movie, which is worth watching for both Grisham and non-Grisham fans.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Runaway Performances!, 22 Sep 2008
I have no idea whether juries in the real world can be corrupted as this jury in the reel world is, but "Runaway Jury" is a riveting thriller that ought to capture the interest of the viewer from beginning to end, whether one buys into all the plot points or not.
Its success as a genre-film derives from the superlative cast, which is headed by Dustin Hoffman in the role of the honest but savvily down-to-earth attorney (with shabby suit and a carefully planted mustard dab on his tie) who is suing the big gun companies on behalf of the wife of a victim of a mass murder; and Gene Hackman as the ruthless (and expensively dressed) jury consultant, who does not give a fig for the victims, but merely wants to win big on behalf of his even bigger clients, no matter how low he has to stoop to do it. Hoffman and Hackman are supported ably by John Cusack and Rachel Weisz, both of whose characters have hidden agendas.
Although the film is worth watching for its suspense-factor alone, the performances of Hoffman and Hackman, who confront each other in the old-fashioned wood-paneled men's washroom of the court, lift "Runaway Jury" from the level of a conventional court-room thriller. This scene, which lasts several minutes, allows these two cinematic masters to pull out all the stops, as it were, of their craft. It is so rare nowadays to get a full-blown scene--more reminiscent of one in a stage play--between two actors of their calibre.
The settings of pre-Katrina New Orleans--the French Quarter and the Garden District--also contribute to the film's ambience.
Every once and a while, I sit down and watch the DVD of a film that I missed in the theatre the first time around. Many, I pass on to my friends; "Runaway Jury," I did not.
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